Odisha BJP To Launch Week-Long Agitation Against Mismanagement During Brahma Parivartan
25 June, Bhubaneswar
BJP’s Odisha unit Thursday announced a week-long agitation is the state in protest against the ‘negligience’ of the state government during the ghat parivartan ritual of deities in the Jagannath temple, Puri.
BJP state unit president K V Singh Deo and Political Planning and Implementation Committee chairman Bijay Mohapatra told newspersons here that the state-wide agitation would be held from June 30 to July 6 next.
Mohapatra said senior BJP leaders would go to different places and hold demonstrations and address protest meetings in hundreds of places. The detail agitational programme would be chalked out in a day or two.
The BJP leaders said the decision was taken at the party office bearers’ meeting held here today.
They said there was gross mismanagement right from the selection of Daru to sacred transfer of souls (Ghat Parivartan) and held Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Law Minister Arun Sahu and the temple administration responsible for it.
Mohapatra said the ‘arrogance’ of government officials and politicalisation during the Daru selection process was responsible for the mismanagement.
The incidents like a minister sitting on Daru Sagadi (the cart carrying the log selected for making of deities) and sleeping of a minister with sevayat had never happened before, he said.
Odisha has been defamed outside by the government, the BJP leader said.
He said section 30 of the Sri Jagannath Temple Act has given wide power to the government to deal with any situation but it failed to discharge its duty, leading to the mismanagement.
Even ten days after the incident the Chief Minister had not yet opened his mouth on the incident. While in the past the CM had personally monitored and supervised celebration of the Nabakalebar festival, this time he had not done it.
The Chief Minister, Mohapatra alleged, was trying to pass the buck to others.
Mohanatra demanded a judicial inquiry into the whole affair and said the temple’s chief administrator cannot probe the mismanagement as he was guilty of mismanagement